At our September Chamber on Tap event we showcased a number of Queensland Government services and programs available to our members. One of the programs presented was Mentoring for Growth program and we spoke to the region’s volunteer mentor Jo McKee to learn more.
Mentoring for Growth
For over 20 years, the Queensland Government’s Mentoring for Growth (M4G) has been offering eligible businesses free, confidential access to volunteer business experts who provide insights, options and suggestions relating to challenges and opportunities you are experiencing in your business.
The program includes mentoring on business growth, investment, pitches, exporting, and business recovery.
When you participate in the M4G program, the Queensland Government matches its mentors’ expertise and experience with the business challenge or opportunity you have identified. Mentors are drawn from a Queensland-wide pool of more than 300 registered mentors. All mentors have expertise and experience in coaching and/or developing businesses.
Mentoring for Growth is currently being delivered predominantly online.
When, how, and why did you become a Mentoring for Growth mentor?
Volunteer M4G mentor Jo McKee is a Whitsundays local.
Her marketing agency, McKee Creative, connects clients with their customers. Clients love the full-service approach that includes website build and SEO, paid marketing campaigns on Facebook, Instagram and Google, plus looking after emails and content creation.
She shared with us her M4G story.
“I discovered the program after Cyclone Debbie, the sessions were offered as part of helping Airlie Beach get back on its feet. I was matched with Martin Laizans, a mentor in the M4G program.
“I wasn’t really sure what it was all about when offered an initial session – I think many of us in the town were still in a bit of shock after the cyclone! But I registered anyway, and was connected with my mentor.
“At the time, my partner and I had established Grand Prix Yachting on Hamilton Island which was smashed flat by the cyclone: boats, jetties, the lot. With no guests, the jetties and boats damaged, we wouldn’t run the corporate events and day trips for quite some time.
“I’d done online marketing for our business and decided to follow that path after the cyclone. I’d just done my first round of extensive training in online marketing, launched McKee Creative agency, and was interested in exploring business systems for efficiency as we brought our first clients onboard.
“My mentoring session was very helpful, with my mentor, Martin, taking me through his proprietary ‘Launchpad’ blueprint covering product-market fit, the business arenas I wanted to play in, and how we’d differentiate ourselves from other agencies.
“Martin went far beyond the M4G session, circling back to see how I was doing and referring early clients.
“Once McKee Creative was established I wanted to contribute back into the program, so applied to be a mentor.”
What are the top business issues or challenges you regularly experience through the Mentoring for Growth program?
Jo brings her online marketing expertise to the program. Through the M4G she believes the most common marketing challenges business owners face are:
- Feeling overwhelmed when it comes to creating a profitable marketing system.
- Feeling confused, not knowing how to calculate their marketing budget.
- Unclear about how to test their product or market fit.
- Unsure how to make their website convert visitors to sales.
- Feeling stretched when it comes to resources to make consistent social media content.
“In my experience, being overwhelmed and a lack of clarity contributes to anxiety for business owners. As they’re not sure where to take action, they either expend resources on unprofitable marketing projects or do nothing at all. Both of those negatively impact revenue” says Jo.
“Having a clear, well-informed business and marketing plan is good for mental health and the bottom line.”
What are your top tips for business owners, and why?
We asked Jo about her top tips to business owners:
- Be clear about the problem your product or service solves for your customers. When you can articulate this, everything in your marketing flows more smoothly. It’s easy to focus on the features, but that should come after you’ve got the prospective customer’s attention and helped them see why they need what you sell.
- Keep your marketing simple. New tools are developed every day, and digital platforms are constantly changing. But if you focus on the formula of ‘List (who you’re speaking to), Offer (what problem you solve) and Creative (images/videos/words)’ you’ll be effective in any format.
- Know your numbers. Know what your definition of a lead is and what that costs you in terms of advertising spend. What does a sale cost you? What does it cost you to get your message in front of the right people? If you think about it in the universal CPM (Cost per Mille, or Cost per 1000 impressions) you can analyse it across all formats. For instance, if you know your CPM in Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram) is $20, you can compare that with your organic content – to see how many people it is reaching and do the maths to equate that to the value it brings.
- Build your email and/or SMS list and keep customers and subscribers engaged. It gives you an audience you own so that if you are shut down on any paid platforms, you still have a pool of customers you can sell to. It’s also a valuable business asset when you come to sell.
Register today for the Mentoring for Growth program. You can request to be paired with Jo or another mentor with expertise you are seeking for a mentoring session.
Also see Ask a Mentor series that provides information and tips from M4G mentors on different topics, plus the opportunity to join our mentors in free panel webinars.
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